ruby & roja design

Not alot of time to post, but did want to let you know we've made a few changes at Be Design! We've added another great person to our team AND we've changed our name to ruby & roja design. Check out our site for an explanation!

One more thing! Go over and check out 5 Minutes for Mom's new sister sites! We at ruby & roja had the pleasure of working on this fantatstic project too!

The Big Project

So I've been a busy, busy bee over the past few weeks. In addition to our regularly scheduled clients, we also had a doozy come up. Bigger than big! We at Be Design, now ruby & roja design (that's another post for tomorrow!), were commissioned to redesign the 5 Minutes for Mom site. Have you been to 5 Minutes for Mom before? If not, you gots to get over there! It's a great site with so many resources for Moms, great posts by Susan & Janice (the co-founders and identical twin sisters), lots of other regular contributors, and so many links to other Mom blogs it will blow your mind.

We worked directly with Susan and Janice to create the site of their dreams. And it turned out so well, don'tchathink? Stop on over and check out the new look, and if you've never been by before, stop and look around. I promise you'll find something pertinent to you. And leave a comment telling them how wonderful it looks and how smart they were to hire me and Beth :)

Oh, and I forgot to mention, there's another surprise coming from 5 Minutes for Mom tomorrow. It's a big one :)

So many things

I have so many things to blog about. So many. Just no time.

I want to tell you about Mia, and how she's growing so fast. How she's sitting up now and occasionally gets there by herself. I haven't seen her do it yet, but I'll turn around and she'll be sitting. Or she'll start crying in bed and I'll go in to check on her and she's sitting and confused as to how to get back to the sleeping position. I want to tell you how she's so tiny, still wearing size 2 diapers at 7 months old. That she smiles all day long and I wonder if her face must hurt from all the grinning. She loves her voice and loves to squeal and babble on and on. And that I think she's going to be like her brother and talk non stop. She's growing so fast is scares me. It makes me sad to know that she's our last and I feel like I need to soak up every single moment of her sweet preciousness. When I put her to bed at night, she snuggles so close to me I feel like she's trying to get inside of me. And I want her there again.

I want to rave about BJ and his inquisitiveness. His four year old wonder and awe of the world around him. His love of everything except bedtime and tomatoes. How he tells me at least 20 times a day that he loves me more than anything else in the world. The sweaty, boyish smell of him after a long day of play, and how wonderful and clean and soft he is just after his bath. His love of books and his odd choices of subjects at the library. His box of treasures, pieces of old glass that seem to be all over our property, acorns, fossils, and many, many rocks. How he brings me fistfuls of wild flowers almost daily and insists that we put them in a vase full of water. That he wants to be a helicopter pilot when he grows up, but that it might be too hard to learn. About his injuries, head wounds, scratches, and bug bites that seem to be endless.

I also want to blog about my business and how I'm so busy sometimes I feel like I'm missing out on all of the above. About the conscious effort I make each and every day to spend as much time away from my laptop and with my kids. But it's so hard when there is a never ending list of clients. And those clients, how wonderful each and every one of them is. How different and unique each design is. And my business partner, who is amazing and crazy and freaking hilarious. She makes me laugh at least 100 times a day. And inspires me just as much. About Arianne, the newest member of the Be Design family, and how she is such a perfect fit and fills a serious need for us. And that she makes me laugh almost as much as Beth.

And my friend, Lisa. My dear sweet friend. I could talk to her on the phone at least 4 times a day and share a slew of emails back and forth and we still have so much to say. I want to tell you how I wish she lived next door, so she could send her kids over when she needs a nap and vice versa. So we could sit up and eat ice cream together and watch TV late into the night. I would love to be able to go shopping with her to make those important decisions on bedding for the kids' rooms. Or furniture. Or baby clothes.

I also want to mention my husband and how hard he works and how I miss seeing him everyday. It's been almost 2 years that we've lived apart during the week. And while I feel, without a doubt, our marriage is stronger now, I still miss being able to unwind on the front porch with him and talk about our days after we get the kids in bed. Talk about the ups, the downs, and the in betweens.

And I want to blog about me. About how I never stop going. How in order to make everything above possible, I have to juggle a million things and work late into the night. And about how happy I am with everything, and with the exception of my lack of sleep, I wouldn't change a single thing. Except I would request that the damn raccoon that keeps getting into my trash can at night and spreading garbage all over my yard please stop. For the love of all that is good and peaceful. Stay out of my motherf..., well, you know, trash.

So that's what I've been wanting to blog about.

Finding a balance without falling overboard

In the recent past, I've struggled with the balance of my live. I've been a stay at home mom now for 2 years, and while I would never go back to a traditional job, I felt like I needed more. And then my husband pointed out to me that I needed something to occupy my time. At first I was completely offended. Hello, I have 2 children, one of them a baby. I had PLENTY to occupy my time. Sometimes too much. But then I started thinking about it more, and as much as I hated to admit I was wrong (because I have real problem with that), I was wrong. It made sense. I didn't have any thing for me. Just me. I was a wife and a mother to BJ and Mia, but that was it. What could I do? I didn't have many options. I'd had a few freelance design gigs in the past, but they'd dried up. I couldn't really do anything outside of the home because I wanted to be with my children. That didn't leave me much. Big sigh.

The on April 30th, Beth emailed me with a question on Sparkly Magic (graphic design). We'd worked together for a couple of years in past as volunteers for a national organization. We were friends who had sorta lost touch. We kept up with each others blogs, but that was pretty much it. So when she emailed me that day to ask a Photoshop question, and then several more design questions, I was thrilled to help. And then it all snowballed, in a good way. For fun, she was designing a header for a friends blog. She was actually planning to do headers for multiple friends. The more we emailed back and forth, the more excited I got. Then on an email that went back and forth so many times I lost count, Be Design (or at least the concept) was born. Beth told me how good designing headers made her feel, how it was such a wonderful distraction. I told her how it made me feel fulfilled and happy. Then we were like, hey we can do this. For real. And the rest is history. It's a short history, because that was only 3 weeks ago. Fo' shizzle.

So here we are, one day past our 1 week business anniversary. We have almost 60 clients in our queue. We are rocking out the designs so fast. And everyone loves them. It's amazing to me how quickly this came about and how successful we've become in such a short time. Crazy I tell you.

So I would like to introduce you to the Be Designs that I've completed. Meet:

Story Tellin' Mama
I Want a Minivan
Growing Up Mo'
Superdumb Supervillain
Cheaper by the Half Dozen
More Than a Minivan Mom

Please stop by and leave a comment on these wonderful blogs. Each one of these ladies has been so fun to work with. I love each and every one of their designs. It feels almost like they are part of me!

I'm currently working on several more. Check out Be Design for more of our work and to see some of Beth's rocking hot designs.

Thank you Beth! Thank you, thank you, thank you. I am forever grateful for that first email you sent asking me how to make an image stretch too 900 pixels without distorting it. I might just have to print it out frame it!

Drumroll please

For the past week and a half I have been working very hard with Beth, at I Should Be Folding Laundry. It all started when she emailed me to ask some Photoshop questions. Well, she kept asking, and asking, and asking some more. I got damned tired of it, okay just kidding. I would never, ever get tired of it! But we finally decided that we both had something wonderful to offer. Not just to each other, but to the whole darned blogging world.

So, we've been working all day, all night, and burning the midnight oil. Feeding our kids (at least I have been) a myriad of processed foods and PB&Js. Typing eleventy-billion emails. Cussing like sailors (okay, only every once in awhile). And we're finally ready to roll out the big project.

Introducing, bddbdbdbdbdbdbdbdbdb (that's a drumroll):

Be Design

Get on over there quick. That's an order. Sit a spell and take it all in. We've poured our hearts and souls into this folks. So hop on that email and contact us quick because we're going to be so busy, we might not see the light of day for the next 289 days. And you don't want to be the last one in line, trust me!!

And did I mention that there's a Grand Opening Sale involved. You know you can't pass up a good deal!!!

**A special note to Beth: Thank you so much for asking me to be a part of this. It's a huge honor to be working with you, my friend.